No Steam, No Problem: The Division 2 Already Has More Pre-Orders Than Original

It was quite the surprise when it was announced that the game would be released on the Epic Games Store and not on Steam back in January, with future PC titles to possibly take a similar route. But, so far, things are working out quite well.

Ubisoft promised that Epic would "deliver a smooth journey" from the pre-ordering stage to the actual release, claiming that they were getting behind the latter's effort to shake up the industry.

As it turns out, the choice was a great one, as PC pre-orders for The Division 2 have already surpassed the numbers reached by the first game. Ubisoft's plan to attract more profits away from steam have apparently been realized.

Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft's CEO, explained their reasoning behind the store change this week during an earnings call, also revealing that pre-orders from the Ubisoft Store are six times higher than the first game in the series.

"There is a growing number of distribution platforms fighting for great content. With this deal, we saw an opportunity to increase player's exposure to our own store, while at the same time supporting a partner that greatly values our games and provides materially better terms," Guillemot said, per PC Gamer.

"Early indications are supportive, as PC preorders are higher than for the first Division, and preorders on the Ubisoft Store are six times higher. We believe this deal is a long-term positive for Ubisoft."

Guillemot stressed on his point during a follow-up Q&A session, declaring that being on the Epic Store "really helped to actually do more of our business on our own store, and to have a better revenue per unit sold via the Epic deal."

"So altogether it's really helped us to go smoothly from Steam," he added.

The company hasn't released an official forecast for The Division 2 - which launches on March 15 - but Guillemot claims that the game has the potential to be a bigger overall seller than the first installment.